Forest is a valuable resource which contributes significantly to the economy and provides environmental stability, regional climate stability, regulates rainfall patterns and reduces sedimentation load in rivers. Environmental pollution and climate change have become burning issue throughout the world and natural and human made disasters such as land erosion, flooding, agriculture, urbanisation, unemployment (theft due to poverty), drought and global warming, have contributed to deforestation
The forests of Sindh since independence in 1947 have undergone a considerable change in its resources. The forests of Sindh before World War-II were totally stocked.
But extreme wartime stress and greater utilisation of forests reduced natural resources. Sindh occupies 14.09 million ha of the lower Indus plain. Agriculture, forestry and pasture are three main land uses in the province. The Indus River traverses through Sindh, covering 865 kms – from Guddu Barrage to Arabian Sea – and is the only source of water for irrigation, forestry and human consumption. The riverine tract and delta formed by River Indus occupies a special significance in economy and ecology of the province. Agricultural expansion and subsequent industrial development has brought significant economic growth in the country over a period of time. But at the same time construction of irrigation development structures at the upper streams of the Indus and its tributaries for storage and diversion of water for agricultural use and power generation has reduced intensity and frequency of floods in the lower Indus basin.
The Sukkur and Shikarpur division’s forests grow up naturally at the side of the Indus basin. They cover an area of 493,439.873 acres, fluctuating between four and six kms in width, providing protection against the floods. The climate of the area is sub-tropical and continental type, comprising of warm in summers and waterless winters last from December to February. The yearly mean rainfall in the northern part is about hundred millimetres, but in the south it is one hundred seventy five millimetres. July and August are the months of rainfall. Riverine forests have important sanctuaries for a multiplicity of mammals and reptiles. The most important species of plants of the riverine forests are Acacia nilotica, Prosopis spicigera, Porosopis juliflora, Prosopis glandulosa, Tamarix dioica, Desmastachya bipinnala and Calotropis Procera.
From 1979 to 2009, drastic reduction in forest cover was observed and most of the area of Indus basin was used for agriculture purpose. The riverine forests mapping based on remotely sensed data was evaluated with the forest topographic maps prepared by Sindh Forest Department in 1974.
The mapping from Guddu to Sukkur barrage showed huge changes. The main causes of deforestation of Sukkur and Shikarpur are scarcity of fresh water, floods and illegal cutting for fuel wood and using land for agriculture. The annual ratio of depletion of forests is nine percent and deforestation from 1979-2009 about 85 percent.
Extract from the research paper ‘Deforestation Analysis of Riverine Forest of Sindh Using Remote Sensing Techniques’ by Habibullah U Abbasi, Mushtaq Ahmed Baloch and Abdul Ghafoor Memon